Bilawal warns PM may become a casualty

KARACHI/PESHAWAR - Pakistan People’s Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari warned Thursday that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif may himself one day become a victim of the Protection of Pakistan Ordinance if it is passed in its current form, according to a media report. Meanwhile, MQM chief Altaf Hussain has said that his party will not accept Pakistan Protection Ord (now a bill after passage by National Assembly). He urged the political forces including human rights organisations to call a conference soon for formulation of strategy against the bill.Addressing the joint session of the party’s coordination committee at London and Pakistan on Thursday, he said the party would not accept the imposition of illegal and draconian black law.He alleged that the bill shows authoritarian, repressive mentality and thinking of the government and its allies. These people do illegal business and find faults in the legal business activities of other people and order to behead them. They express joy over their illegal and inhumane actions, he said.Altaf further appealed to all Pakistanis, who believe in the rule of law, justice and humanity, to protest against the Protection of Pakistan Bill regardless of their political affiliations and condemn it openly. He added that political parties and leaders who had supported the passage of this bill would be regarded as enemies of the humanity. Also, JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman has said PPO is against the basic human rights.Speaking to media in Abbottabad, the Maulana said the PPO would get amended in the Senate. Our party completely supports the movement of Hazara province, he added. To a question regarding the Musharraf case, the JUI-F chief said the case was pending in court, hence discussing on the issue was inappropriate. However, he added that it was yet to be seen whether the government could implement article-6 in the Musharraf case.The MQM is likely to table a resolution in the Sindh Assembly against the bill today. Earlier, Senator Farhatullah Babar of the PPP had said that the bill is under the review of the Senate, and that his party will try to amend the law.Babar said that if the law is passed while retaining its current shape, it will provide legal cover to enforce disappearances, and extra-judicial killings would become the norm. “This law will turn Pakistan into a police state,” Shah Mehmood Qureshi, vice chairman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), said earlier. “We have decided to take this law to court and challenge its anti-human rights stance.” The Pakistan Muslim League – Nawaz (PML-N) government argues the legislation is necessary to curb the rising terrorism and militancy across the country. The bill was passed late on Monday amid protests from members of parliament and condemnation from international rights groups. The law empowers Pakistan's already powerful security forces to shoot terrorism suspects at sight, detain suspects for up to 90 days, conduct secret trials and transfer cases to special courts. The law is yet to be approved by the opposition-controlled Senate.